Life as a Spectator Sport

Nearly 400,000 packaged meals, meant for victims of Hurricane Katrina, are sitting in a warehouse in Arkansas accruing storage charges of $16,000 per month, because the US does not allow imports of British meat.

In 1987, British health officials began to be aware of a troublesome and apparently new disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). By the mid 1990's a variant form of BSE, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD, often just referred to as CJD) was affecting humans. Millions of farm animals were slaughtered, and British beef was blocked from sale in most other countries, including the US. Britain and the rest of the European Union now have stringent measures in place to prevent BSE and to follow up on cases of vCJD. The US still does not allow the import of British beef, but someone (no one will admit who) requested emergency meal packs from the British.

A spokesman for the British Embassy, citing diplomatic protocol in requesting anonymity, said he was puzzled by the turn of events.

"There was a specific request for emergency ration packs, and we responded to that," he said. "We had no reason to believe there would be a problem."

This is particularly disturbing in view of the fact that people are probably more likely to be afflicted with CJD in the US than in the UK.

Here are some facts: Japan tests every cow for BSE at slaughter time. The US tests only some of the "downers," the ones who collapse while they are waiting to be slaughtered.

The British require any diagnosed case of CJD to be reported. CJD is not a reportable disease in the US.

Surveillance centers in Europe see nearly all of the cases of CJD; the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center in the US sees fewer than half.

Autopsy of elderly Alzheimer's patients show that some of them died from undiagnosed CJD, and autopsies of younger people who were diagnosed with severe viral infections or multiple sclerosis show that some of them, too, actually had CJD.

Europe and the UK have banned the use of slaughterhouse waste, blood and manure in animal feed. Here is what the US did:

In a surprise move [July 2004], the US has postponed long-awaited plans to ban material from animal feed that might be infected with BSE. It is the second time the US has backed away from tougher feed restrictions this year, and new rules are unlikely before the presidential election in November.

In January the US Food and Drug Administration announced that it would ban cattle blood and other potentially infected material from cattle feed, but postponed the move after an international scientific panel recommended more stringent measures. Now the FDA is considering banning all meat meal except fish from cattle feed and banning cattle brain and other high-risk "SRM" tissues, and sick or "downer" cattle, from chicken and pig feed, because these could contaminate cattle feed.

But instead of implementing these measures as expected, the FDA announced on 9 July that it would wait, asking for "comments and scientific information" on the proposals, all of which are watered-down versions of the measures Europe needed to control BSE. "The FDA does not need another round of comments," Jean Halloran of the US Consumer's Union claimed. "They know what needs to be done." But the American Meat Institute, an industry group, greeted the news by repeating its opposition to banning SRM from feed.

Since the US allows bovine by-products (including manure--isn't that a lovely thought?) to be fed to pigs and chickens, it's possible that no meat sold in grocery stores is completely safe to eat. In light of this, I have stopped eating meat again, as I did once years ago. Living with Clarence means I have to handle meat whether I eat it or not, and I don't know what the health risk is there, but at least I'm not consuming it.

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RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email to liz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002